title: Mistaking randomness for free will.
abstract: Belief in free will is widespread. The present research considered one reason why people may believe that actions are freely chosen rather than determined: they attribute randomness in behavior to free will. Experiment 1 found that participants who were prompted to perform a random sequence of actions experienced their behavior as more freely chosen than those who were prompted to perform a deterministic sequence. Likewise, Experiment 2 found that, all else equal, the behavior of animated agents was perceived to be more freely chosen if it consisted of a random sequence of actions than if it consisted of a deterministic sequence; this was true even when the degree of randomness in agents' behavior was largely a product of their environments. Together, these findings suggest that randomness in behavior--one's own or another's--can be mistaken for free will.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Harvard University, 33 Kirkland St., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. jebert@wjh.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Jeffrey P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Ebert
authors.forename: Daniel M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Wegner
mesh_terms: D002755:Choice Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010465:Perception; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D011897:Random Allocation; D012938:Social Perception